Process of preparing and extracting vegetable fiber from yucca and the like.



A. 6. BROWN.

PROCESS OF PREPARING AND EXTRACTIING VEGETABLE FIBER mom YUCCA AND THE LIKE.

' APPLICATION FILED DEC. 24. IHQII.

1 277,185. Patented Aug 27, 1918.

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To all whom it may conoera.'=

Be it known that L'Anrnno G. Bnown, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles in the county of LosAngeles and State of California, have invented new and useful improvements in Processes of Preparing and Extracting Vegetable Fiber from Yucca and the like, of which the following is a specification.

, of excellent quality suitable for use as manila and sisal, but the process of separating the cellular tissue from the best fiber has been laborious and expensive; v

It is an object of this invention to pro-. vide a process of quickly and economically extracting vegetable fiber from yucca plants and the like.

My invention consists in the steps of the process hereinafter described and claimed.

in the accompanying drawings, l. have illustrated diagrammatically the apparatus used in carrying out my recess.

The green leaves oft e yucca plant are fed throu h the crusher 10, which may be of any suita 1e construction, but ll preferably use a crusher similiar to the sugar cane crusher. r

The object of the crusher is to break the leaves so as to prepare the same for the next step in the operation, which is the boiling The crushed leaves are next introprocess.

specification of Letters Patent.

Application flleclhecember 9A, 1917. serial Ito. 2%,691.

Patented Aug. as, rare.

ll also may use one or more sets of rubber rolls 13 in connection with the. corrugated rolls. The rubber rolls 13 may be so constructed that the surface speed of one of the.

rolls is greater than that of the other,t hereby effecting, besides the pressing action, a

pulling action on the leaves, which assists in loosening. the cellular tissue from the fiber. I may find it, advisable to treat the leaves as they are passed through the crrugated rollers 12 with jets of water in order to washout a portion of the cellular tissue which adheresloosely to the fibers.

The last operation is the treatingcof the leaves thus prepared with the scutching machine 14-. I have shown an ordinary type of scutching machine, although i prefer to use the machine shown inmy co-pending application for a' vegetable fiber'scutching and cleaning machine, Serial No.176,121, filed June 21, 1917.

' The scutching machine separates the remaining portion of the'cellular tissue from the Vegetable fiber, which is then driedby.

duced into the boiler 11, of any suitable conor I may introduce acaustio solution, such as sodium hydroxid or a soap powder.

The leaves, after {being boiled, .pass

through oneor more sets of corru ated rollers 12, which serve to loosen an partially separate the. cellular tissue from the fiber.

any suitable apparatus.

By subjecting the leaves to the step of boiling, as described, I greatly facilitate the thorough and quick removal of the cellular.

tissue from the fiber.

The leading step in my process of extracta ing fiber from yucca consists in passing the cooked leaves through corrugated rollers-and then between difierentially driven pulling rollers so as to pull the, fiber from the pulp.

ldy difierenti-ally pulling rollers I mean a set o rollers where the periphery of one roller runs faster than the periphery of the other roller so as to make a rubbing and pulling action upon the softcooked material, thereby loosening the pulp'from the fiber.

While I have shown the preferred con struction of my process of preparing and extracting vegetable fiber from yucca plants and the like as now known to me, it will be various changes in the combination, construction and arrangement of partsmay be made without, departigg from the spirit. of

my invention as claim I claim:

1. The art of separating'fiber from yucca leaves which consists in passing'the-green' understood by those skilled in the art that Q i r 1,277,185

leaves between crushing rollers, cookin the leaves which consists in cooking the leaves crushed green leaves, passing the cooke maand then passin the soft wet leaves through terial between corrugated rollers and then a scutching mac ine. 10 between diflerential smooth rollers, and then In testimony whereof I have signed my 5 passing the soft wet material through a name to this specification. 4

scutching machine.

2. The art of separating fiber from yucca ALFRED G. BROWN. 

